Social Media: A Great Business Move to Showcase Your Salon’s Nails

Posted April 30, 2018

Social media has dramatically changed the beauty industry in recent years. By widening the reach of smaller beauty businesses, social media has helped to provide consumers with more resources to connect with brands that interest them.

For your nail salon, this connection makes social media platforms ideal for growing your business. By posting beautiful photos and engaging with your followers, social media can help you build a real community of loyal clients.

Here we explain the best ways to showcase your salon’s nails on social media and how this can help increase sales.

Use Social Media as Your Portfolio

Treat your social media pages as your salon’s online portfolio. That means selecting quality images of beautiful nails to showcase the work you do.

But remember, if you’re just starting out, don’t feel pressured to upload 25 photos at once. One or two good-quality posts per day will be more than sufficient to help you gain followers and attract more clients.

And, if you’re unsure of what kinds of nail-based photos to include, here are some ideas:

1. Showcase a Range of Nail Styles

You should use social media to showcase all the nail styles your salon offers. That means posting photos of nails in different shapes, colors, and designs. From elaborate spiked nails to a reserved French manicure, make sure you show a wide range.

That way, potential clients will know that you can adapt to their needs and preferences to give them their own perfect nails.

2. Highlight Different Nail Colors

Use social media posts to show some of your salon’s most popular nail colors so that clients can see how the color looks when it’s on.

You can also make a point of highlighting any nail colors that are new to your salon. This will encourage new and existing clients to come in and try something different.

3. Seasonal Nail Art

Social media is the perfect medium for salons and clients to show off seasonal nail art. From tropical designs in summer to snowflake patterns in winter, there’s a look for every time of year.

Not only will these intricate designs show how talented your technicians are, nail art is also highly-shareable on social media.

Make Nails a Must-Have Accessory

Above all, your social media gallery needs to be visually appealing to really work as a good promotional tool for your business.

A gallery full of similar posts of nails could get a little monotonous. So, although it might sound a little contradictory, you shouldn’t always make nails the focus of the image.

A great way to avoid this is by posting photos of a perfectly-manicured hand holding a donut, taking a selfie, or reaching for a coffee in a flat-lay.

This highlights the importance of great nails in everyday life, encouraging clients to book in for regular manicures.

And, you could even use humor in typical Instagram shots like these with captions such as, “When you get a mani just for the ‘gram”.

Use Hashtags, Tags and Locations

Beautiful images are one thing, but social media sites such as Instagram also rely on hashtags to act as a type of index for photos.

Before you start posting photos, check out some popular nail-based pages and see what hashtags seem to work for them.

Some examples of these might be #nailporn, #manicuremonday or #instanails. You can also use more general hashtags such as #inspo for a wider reach with a more limited time-span.

These popular hashtags will help potential followers to find and engage with your posts, which should then increase your following and sales.

But, you should also create a personal hashtag specific to your salon to build your own index of Instagram posts. Include your salon’s name in your individual hashtag and make sure that no one else is using it for their salon. Then encourage clients to tag you and use your hashtag in their social media posts.

Tagging brands used in the photos, such as OPI or Essie, shows that you use high-quality brands and can help to attract followers and increase sales. And remember to include your salon’s location in photos to figure in local searches and attract more potential clients in your area.

Get Employees Involved

The strength of your offline community will help to grow your online community. So be sure to get your employees involved when it comes to social media.

Encourage all your nail technicians to post photos to their individual Instagram accounts. This will help them grow their own client base while also promoting your salon.

You might even put the spotlight on a different nail technician every week. You could include a video of them working or showcase some of their best nail art on your salon’s Instagram page.

This will make your employees feel appreciated, and your clients will get to know your employees and feel more connected to your brand.

Share Clients’ Photos

A great way to build a beautiful feed of nails on social media is to take photos of your clients after their manicure with the Client Photos app. This way you can make sure you capture your work at its best.

But you should also encourage your clients to post photos featuring their nails on their own profiles. Publicize this by writing in your bio that you will share original photos of your clients’ nails if they use your personal hashtag.

Although your clients may only have a few hundred followers, their recommendation will count for a lot among their friends and family.

And, by sharing clients’ photos, you’re increasing the amount of content you can get from each manicure, meaning less work for you to grow your gallery.